First of all 7 of our 11 starters on defense are over 30. Don't be shocked if Hamtpon retires, Foote isn't resigned, and Harrison is cut to save money. Having said that we are not in rebuilding mode. I do think that in Worilds and Sylvester all we have is a future cut casualty. But I also believe an 8-8owner season is admirable given the # of injuries we have had this season. I will be honest I think thr time has come for the Steelers to consider the 4-3. Having said that D. Lebeau has earned the right to retire when he wishes. Don't be shocked if it is this offfseason, though I expect next offseason to be more realistic. As far as Wallace is concerned I'm not so sure I want to see him back, he is extremely selfish. If you are going to fire anyone on the staff it should be Todd Haley. With as many opportunities that we had handed to us vs Cincy there is no way we should have lost. Mendenhall will most likely be cut and Redman and Dwyer will stay pretty cheap. Don't be surprised to see LB/S be our top pick followed by a WR or RB. If youre really going to rid of someone though we need an improved training staff. Injuries have killed is for a long time. On offense we are pretty young. Defensive we have to have a flawless draft. Want leadership? Find a way to trade up and get Manti Te'o he is a born leader. If Alameda Ta'amu doesn't pan out, we also need a new NT.

First of all 7 of our 11 starters on defense are over 30. Don't be shocked if Hamtpon retires, Foote isn't resigned, and Harrison is cut to save money. Having said that we are not in rebuilding mode. I do think that in Worilds and Sylvester all we have is a future cut casualty. But I also believe an 8-8owner season is admirable given the # of injuries we have had this season. I will be honest I think thr time has come for the Steelers to consider the 4-3. Having said that D. Lebeau has earned the right to retire when he wishes. Don't be shocked if it is this offfseason, though I expect next offseason to be more realistic. As far as Wallace is concerned I'm not so sure I want to see him back, he is extremely selfish. If you are going to fire anyone on the staff it should be Todd Haley. With as many opportunities that we had handed to us vs Cincy there is no way we should have lost. Mendenhall will most likely be cut and Redman and Dwyer will stay pretty cheap. Don't be surprised to see LB/S be our top pick followed by a WR or RB. If youre really going to rid of someone though we need an improved training staff. Injuries have killed is for a long time. On offense we are pretty young. Defensive we have to have a flawless draft. Want leadership? Find a way to trade up and get Manti Te'o he is a born leader. If Alameda Ta'amu doesn't pan out, we also need a new NT.

I realize saying a player is over 30 means he's no longer useful in the NFL and is the "popular" thing to say... IT's just not true. Some of them are expensive...but it's because they are good. Who do we truly need to replace next year on defense?

I'd say only 2 players at most.

Larry Foote? He's not exactly a game changer. I think we can deal with this loss. Not to mention we do have Sylvester ready to take his place...and a draft.

Casey Hampton? Dude is still playing at a high level. Would he sign a bargain contract to retire a steeler? If not...we've got McClendon, TaAmu, and a draft.

James Harrison? Still playing at a very high level. Can we survive him leaving? Probably...but I think a restructure would make the most sense. While he didn't have the sacks we are used to seeing, he was till a monster on run defense. IF we let Hampton go...then I think we should try to restructure Harrison.

Brett Keisel? Another older player that is playing at an extremely high level....and IMO he's a bargain for what we are paying him. If we have to... cut him, only because we have a solid player behind him...but if I'm the GM... I try to keep keisel. Maybe cut him and restructure a cheaper contract?

Troy P? When healthy arguably the best Safety in the game... He started to look like him self near the end of the season. A good candidate to restructure.

Woodley? Should be hitting his prime years....My guess is Woodley was hurt most of the season... he did not look him self.... He could be a cap casualty.... Not a guy I'd restructure not knowing if he'll rebound next year. WIth the 2nd highest cap hit on the team...and a solid backup behind him... It wouldn't shock me to see him cut. Or we keep him and hope for a rebound?

Timmons - In his prime years... a restructure is a possibility.

Ike Taylor - still playing at a high level... not a huge cap hit...but still expensive. Would you cut Taylor to keep Lewis? I think with restructuring others we will be fine and could potentially keep Lewis.

Indy is an anomaly which benefitted from one of the easiest schedules in football and had a ridiculous record in games decided by < 7 points. Statistically, they were not a good football team and they're likely to regress to the mean next year.

Besides, why should we use the Colts as a model of success when the Steelers have made 3 Super Bowls since 2005?

Every team in the league models themselves after and strives to be the Pats and/or Steelers.

I mean, the Bengals have made the playoffs in back-to-back years for the first time in 20+ years and are still waiting to win a playoff game in the same timeframe, but should the Steelers follow their team building strategies just because of a small sample size of success?

The Steelers are the gold standard and there's a reason why.

Who knows, for as much as people are hooraying Belicheat's and the Patriot organizations way of doing things - turning nobodys into big time weapons on Brady's offense - they may be trying to low-ball too much on talent, whereas some would say we are overpaying old guys. We've won 2 out of 3 SBs more recently, in comparison to Brady and co going O for 2, with the last one being with a completely different team with a better run game and much better defense - something people are criticizing some Steelers fans for still wanting and that these fans are "not with it"

The next 2 to 3 seasons will be very telling of who was more with it over the past 15 seasons IMO

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With the Steelers roughly 13 or so million dollars over next year's salary cap of $120 or so million, they will have some juggling to do to get under the cap and still be able to resign potential free agents, offer tenders to their restricted and exclusive rights free agents and sign their rookie class.

As you can see, the top of the pay scale tips heavily toward the defense - particularly in favor of the linebackers. That group of 10 players also accounts for roughly $100 million of the team's salary cap for 2013, leaving just $20 million to fill out the rest of the roster.

Now, there is some wiggle room there, such as turning base salary into signing bonus - something the Steelers have done quite a bit of in the past. The only problem with that is you have to be sure the player is going to be part of your plans in future seasons because it increases their cap hit down the road.

For example, a simple restructure for Roethlisberger would make sense, since you could turn his base salary into bonus money and save $7.1 million.

For a player such as Harrison, however, the savings would only be $2.8 million. And with Harrison at 35, that's probably not the way to go.

Just doing a simple restructure on all of their top 10 contracts - at least the ones they would be able to do so with - and the Steelers could create nearly $36 million in cap space.

But, that includes restructuring Harrison, Polamalu and Taylor - Clark can't be done since he is only signed through next season.

Take those three out of the equation, and you're looking at $27.2 million in savings, plenty enough wiggle room to do everything they need in the offseason without releasing any veterans.

Good Night, the sky is falling, the sky is falling, I think the big factor to take a look at is the Steelers had several key injuries this year. From Ben, Brown, Sanders, Wallace, Heath, DeCastro, Polamalu, Ike, Keenan Lewis, etc.... I agree get the young guys some playing time but to totally clean house, that would be foolish. Look at some re-structuring of contracts and enhance upon what you have. The Steelers pick 17th overall, the possibility exists they could trade up to get the Best Player Available like a Man'tai Teo to help this defense. Keep in mind Sean Spence comes back next year, he will need a little guidance, Polamalu healthy is a significant plus and Ben learning more about the Haley offense only leads to better things in 2013, don't sell the farm just yet!

On the negative side, the New York Jets are $19.4 million over the cap. The Dallas Cowboys are $18.2 million over, the New Orleans Saints $14.7 million over and the Carolina Panthers $11.8 million over. The Steelers are $10.8M over.

It's obvious that the higher paid players are older stars. The key to the cap is cutting ties with the the older players before or during their decline and replace them with younger, cheaper rising starters with the potential to be stars or productive players. We have not been able to replace players as we have in the past.

Harrison is at the point of decline. He can be productive but not near 10 mill productive. We also are paying 2 othe linebackers big dollar. I would love to have Harrison back but at much, much less.

Hampton is not a high level player anymore. Productive at times but not worth big bucks. Taamu is an idiot and I wish he was cut outright. Even if he does play he might be serving jail time. That's makes Hampton much more valuable to the Steelers.

I'm not sure how people say Keisel is playing at a " high level" his stats are equal to Ziggy but at 4x the money. Heyward will be on year 3. He needs to play!

Foote is a cheap reliable guy. We have no idea what Spence or Sylvester ( if he is here) can do full time.

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It's obvious that the higher paid players are older stars. The key to the cap is cutting ties with the the older players before or during their decline and replace them with younger, cheaper rising starters with the potential to be stars or productive players. We have not been able to replace players as we have in the past.

Harrison is at the point of decline. He can be productive but not near 10 mill productive. We also are paying 2 othe linebackers big dollar. I would love to have Harrison back but at much, much less.

Hampton is not a high level player anymore. Productive at times but not worth big bucks. Taamu is an idiot and I wish he was cut outright. Even if he does play he might be serving jail time. That's makes Hampton much more valuable to the Steelers.

I'm not sure how people say Keisel is playing at a " high level" his stats are equal to Ziggy but at 4x the money. Heyward will be on year 3. He needs to play!

Foote is a cheap reliable guy. We have no idea what Spence or Sylvester ( if he is here) can do full time.

If we restructure Harrison's Deal the Cap Hit is only 5 mil. Is he worth that? Absolutly if he comes back injury free next year. I think even this year he was worth 5 mil. even though he wasn't at a 100 all year, He has contract left till 2014. Perfect length he has gas in the tank the next 2 years in my eyes. And then maybe it's time to think of retirement.

You're right we have to look at the future and we can do that with our picks this and next year.

With the other ones I kind of agree. Maybe not so much on Foote. I think we have to go without him in the future.